DUKE OF ARGYLE COMMANDS THE BRITISH TROOPS IN SPAIN.

The queen had conferred the command of her forces in Spain upon the duke of Argyle, who was recalled from the service in Flanders for that purpose. He had long been at variance with the duke of Marlborough; a circumstance which recommended him the more strongly to the ministry. He landed at Barcelona on the twenty-ninth of May, and found the British troops in the utmost distress for want of subsistence. The treasurer had promised to supply him liberally; the commons had granted one million five hundred thousand pounds for that service. All their hopes of success were fixed on the campaign in that kingdom; and indeed the army commanded by the duke de Vendôme was in such a wretched condition, that if Staremberg had been properly supported by the allies, he might have obtained signal advantages. The duke of Argyle, having waited in vain for the promised remittances, was obliged, to borrow money on his own credit, before the British troops could take the field. At length Staremberg advanced towards the enemy, who attacked him at the pass of Prato del Key, where they were repulsed with considerable damage. After this action the duke of Argyle was seized with a violent fever, and conveyed back to Barcelona. Vendôme invested the castle of Cardona, which was vigorously defended till the end of December, when a detachment being sent to the relief of the place, defeated the besiegers, killed two thousand on the spot, and took all their artillery, ammunition, and baggage. Staremberg was unable to follow the blow; the duke of Argyle wrote pressing letters to the ministry, and loudly complained that he was altogether unsupported; but all his remonstrances were ineffectual: no remittances arrived; and he returned to England without having been able to attempt any thing of importance. In September, king Charles, leaving his queen at Barcelona, set sail for Italy, and at Milan had an interview with the duke of Savoy, where all disputes were compromised. That prince had forced his way into Savoy and penetrated as far as the Rhine; but he suddenly halted in the middle of his career, and after a short campaign repassed the mountains. Prince Eugene, at the head of the German forces, protected the electors at Frankfort from the designs of the enemy, and Charles was unanimously chosen emperor; the electors of Cologn and Bavaria having been excluded from voting, because they lay under the ban of the empire. The war between the Ottoman Porte and the Muscovites was of short duration. The czar advanced so far into Moldavia, that he was cut off from all supplies, and altogether in the power of his enemy. In this emergency, he found means to corrupt the grand vizier in private, while in public he proposed articles of peace that were accepted. The king of Sweden, who was in the Turkish army, charged the vizier with treachery, and that minister was actually disgraced. The grand seignor threatened to renew the war; but he was appeased by the czar’s surrendering Azoph.